Gold Shop Customer Shot and Killed by 3 Armed Robbers

One person has been killed and another wounded after armed men robbed a gold shop getting away with at least 2.9 million baht in gold jewelry. The robbery occurred at a gold shop in Thailand’s lower northern Tak Province.

As police arrived at the shop not far from Phop Phra Hospital, one glass door was smashed and another had bullet holes. The gold display cases had been emptied.

A male customer who had been shot and seriously wounded was rushed to Phop Phra Hospital with one of the gold shop owners. The owner sustained injuries from broken glass during the heist. Sadly, the customer was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The gold shop robbery was captured by security CCTV cameras. The recordings showed three men arriving in a Toyota pickup truck and parking in front of the gold shop.

Gold shop customer killed

Wearing long-sleeved shirts and full-face motorcycle helmets, they fired shots into the gold shop, captured on a CCTV camera. At the time of the robbery, the two owners were selling gold jewellery to customers.

The gunshots struck one customer, causing him to fall immediately. One of the robbers then used a hammer to break a glass door, then all three rushed into the shop.

They smashed the glass showcases with hammers and put the gold into their bags, then fled in the Toyota pickup.

Police said that more than 1.5 kilograms of gold, worth about 2.9 million baht at current selling prices, was stolen. A massive police manhunt is underway.

Demand for gold rising

In other news, as of the fourth quarter of 2021, Thailand’s gold demand reached 12 tons, up 44% from the previous quarter and reversing a year of net sales in 2020.

According to the Council’s latest “Gold Demand Trends Report” released this week, the annual demand (excluding over-the-counter markets) recovered much of the losses caused by Covid by reaching 4,021 tonnes last year.

Thailand’s annual demand for gold jewellery increased by 33% to 8 tonnes from 6 tonnes in 2020. Jewelry consumption rose 20% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter for a fourth consecutive quarter. Considering that Thailand continued to recover from the effects of Covid, this quarter was the strongest since the pandemic began.

Gold bars and coins have also shifted from net divested to net positive investment in the country. As a result of lower gold prices and continued economic recovery, annual demand for bars and coins increased to 29 tonnes, compared to 87 tonnes in 2020, and total consumer demand (including jewellery) for the year reached 37 tonnes.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, gold demand reached 1,147 tonnes, the highest quarterly level since the second quarter of 2019 and an increase of almost 50% over the same period last year, according to the Council.

In the wake of rising inflation and economic uncertainty caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, gold bar and coin demand rose 31% to an 8-year high of 1,180 tonnes.